Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire If you use HP printers

You will soon discover (if you have not already) that HP will no longer work with aftermarket ink cartridges. They will work ONLY with genuine HP cartridges - which cost up to four times as much as substitute brands.

I can confirm this. My wife's HP printer gave her a warning message and ceased printing until she bought genuine HP ink. My own Brother printer, however, works perfectly with cartridges bought online at a great price. As soon as those go dry, she's dumping HP.

If you have an HP printer, you may wish to ashcan it and buy a Brother brand printer.

Or, if one is available near you, have a shop re-ink the originals.. I've done that several times and those work well in my HP OJP 8600...

I'm getting a Brother Eco-tank printer.

Avoid HP on general principal.

A horrible company to deal with.

I rather chisel in stone than give HP any money.

I switched to a tank type printer. They have bulk ink tanks and the ink costs a fraction of what cartridges cost. How well they print depends on how high of quality of printer you buy. Mine is a Canon 6200 series and it prints photos quite well. Brother, Epson, and others make good ones, too.

You do have to use them regularly to keep the heads from drying out. The best way is to find a full color photo, maybe 4x6 or 5x7, and keep it handy on your computer. Print it about once a week. Plain paper works fine. Then switch it to black or grayscale and print it again. Just printing something black, like text, might not clean the black printhead. Often it'll mix the 3 colors together for black and not use the black head at all. You need to use the black or grayscale setting to make sure it gets used. I can also print a test page from the printer maintenance menu but the amount it prints is very small. I think printing a photo does a better job of hosing it out.

I've got one of those. It's pretty good. Got the all in one.

As a note to the printers not using aftermarket ink, that is a result of updating software... Some printers ask to be updated, and some just do it, but that algorithm came from an update.

I've got an Epson, eco tank is the way to go.

Should have dug a little Rocky, moot point.

HP has launched what is called a cartridge protection setting on its genuine ink cartridges. This system locks original ink cartridges into a specific printer so you won’t be able to use them with a different printer. If you own an HP OfficeJet Pro 251dw printer and decide to purchase a brand new HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 ink printer that uses the same HP 950 and 951 cartridges, you won’t be able to use these cartridges in the new printer since they are locked to your old one. With that being said, you won’t be able to refill, recycle, or remanufacture the cartridges for use in a different printer because HP and its cartridge protection system won’t allow it.


Disabling the HP cartridge protection on your printer can be done in a few easy steps. If your printer doesn’t come with internet features, here’s how to do it.

From the Printer menu, go to Printer Settings

Find the option that allows you to disable HP cartridge protection

Select the disable option

Click Apply and Save if necessary

If your HP printer comes with internet features, however, follow these steps:

Open a web browser and type in your HP printer’s IP address on the web address.

Note: You can find your printer’s IP address by going to your Printer Settings and then making your way to Network Setup options.

Your printer’s Embedded Web server opens. Go to Settings and then HP Cartridge Protection.

Select Disable HP Cartridge Protection

Click on Apply or Save

Disable HP Cartridge Protection from Your Windows PC​

Go to Control Panel and select Printers and Devices
Locate and right-click on your printer on the list
Select properties followed by the software tab
Select properties followed by the software tab

How-Do-You-Trick-HP-Ink-Cartridges

Aside from disabling HP cartridge protection, you can also trick HP ink cartridges into working with a different printer. Thus, even though the ink cartridges are already locked on your old printer, you can still use them with a brand new printer with these steps:

1. Remove the new ink cartridge and reload the old ink cartridge back into the printer.

2. Wait for about 10 minutes before you proceed to the next step.

3. Remove the old ink cartridge and install the new ink cartridge again.

Your HP printer should be able to recognize your new ink cartridges by now. If it still doesn’t, try these alternative steps instead:

1. Remove the new ink cartridge from the printer.

2. Please turn off your HP printer and detach its power cord for 10 minutes.

3. Reconnect the power cord but don’t turn on the power button just yet.

4. Reload the new ink cartridge back into the printer.



Can You Use Remanufactured Ink Cartridges in HP Printers?
Remember that printer manufacturers like HP are prohibited by law to prevent you from using compatible or remanufactured cartridges in your printer. Nevertheless, they have successfully got around the rules by devising clever systems like the cartridge protection setting, which renders generic ink cartridges useless.

But you may prefer using generic HP ink cartridges over original HP ink cartridges as they are cheaper while generally offering comparable print results. If such is the case, disable the HP cartridge protection or trick HP ink cartridges using the steps above

I agree. Thought I was the only one

I have two HP;s, wife has one, real work horses, Ink supply lasts for what we use them for, quality in both machines and ink, can't complain about the price, you get what you pay for.

Every year I make family calendars for all the relatives with birthdays, etc. I use 8.5x11 high quality photos so it takes a lot of ink for 18 to 20 calendars. I figure my tank printer saved me $100 in ink this year alone.

I had to deal with HP commercial/production printers for a few years. Even at that level HP was a giant PIA.

Imagine a 900lb ink jet. Quart sized cartridges. 60 color prints a minute. What seemed like a mile of capillary tubing, pumps, sumps, vacuum motors, and layers of circuit boards.

I mostly did connectivity jobs but got roped into the big HP's because they wanted guys with more computer experience. I found out why, changing a failed board was always a trap. Make one misstep and you have a giant brick and a pissed customer.

Screw HP

I'm sure your post will help some people, Swifty.

I have an elderly HP inkjet printer. I quit using color cartridges long ago, and only print black & White. A new black extended use cartridge lasts me a couple of years.

HP has paid out fines in the past for trying to force owners to buy only their brand of ink. Could/should happen again.

I have an HP 8600 printer, many years old. I won't buy another one strictly because of their business practices.

I had HP and got tired of the inks drying out. Then got a cheap Epson and the net cost per printed page (B and W only) penciled out to four bucks a page. So, went to the geek place and they recommended a Brother and sold me one. I'm down to about a buck a page amortized but it's on the same half-ream of paper and blort of ink it came with, prints without issue even when it sits for months.

Is there a reason the olds are mystified by the inkjet printer in 2023?


My grandma feels the need to print emails, photos, news articles, Facebook posts, recipes, confirmation numbers - everything. Be lost without one


I don't own a printer, have not had any replacement cartridge issues....

My HP just laid down on me after about 20+ years. It was a good run. I went with an Epson photo quality this time around. They are a lot smarter than they used to be.

I kicked HP to the curb a couple of years ago even though my printer was not that old and worked great.
They would not allow me to use cartridges and were trying to force me into a cartridge service plan where they would send me new cartridges when they felt I needed them.

I got an Epson ET-4760. I don't like the pathways and all as much, but it works just fine and it has tanks instead of a cartridge.

I went with a Laserjet some years back as most of my printing is B&W, mainly my copy of tax returns. Replaced the original toner cartridge and am now probably good forever. Inkjets are an expensive PITA. Mine is mostly a scanner these days.

As Egon Spengler said, “Print is dead”.

Someone else, I forget who, said, “You don’t need to print the Internet”.